Enchilada Lasagna

This is about as lazy as you can get for a casserole. Opens some cans, mix them together, open a package of corn tortillas, place them all in a pan, bake. Easy to scale up or down depending on need. I forgot to photograph it.

• 2 x 14 oz cans, fire-roasted, diced tomatoes with chile (I used Muir Glen Organics)
• 2 x 14 oz cans, refried black beans
• 1# bag frozen southwestern vegetables mix (mix of corn, peppers, onions)
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• Salt
• 1 small can, mild enchilada sauce
• 18 small corn tortillas
• Queso Fresco
• Fresh cilantro, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 425F. Spray 13x19 baking dish with nonstick spray.
2. Combine tomatoes (with juice), black beans, frozen vegetables and Parmesan in a large bowl. Add salt to taste.
3. Spread about half of enchilada sauce on bottom of dish. Layer six tortillas over the sauce. Spread half the tomatoes and beans mix over the tortillas. Layer another six tortillas, then the rest of the tomatoes and beans. Finish with remaining tortillas. Spread remaining enchilada sauce over top and top evenly with cheddar.
4. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake another 15 minutes.
5. Remove from oven. Crumble Queso Fresco over top, then sprinkle cilantro over top. Serve.

Sermon: El Roi–The God Who Sees

Primary text: Luke 7:11-17
Secondary text: 1 Kings 17:17-24
Manuscript: PDF – 596KB
Audio: MP3 – 18 min – 2.64MB

This sermon is based on Luke’s account of Jesus at Nain, where he encounters a funeral procession. He returns the dead man to life and returns him to his mother in an echo of Elijah’s account with the widow and her son at Zarephath.

Sermon Prep: Luke 7:11-17

I’ve been asked to provide the sermon at the Presbyterian Church this Sunday. I chose to speak on the gospel text for this week from the Lectionary. It is the story of Jesus going to the town of Nain and raising back to life a widow’s son. There are strong connections to the story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath and her son, found in 1 Kings 17. I see (pun intended) also a tangential connection between “Jesus seeing” and Hagar calling God “El Roi” meaning “God of seeing” in Genesis 16. The act of Jesus speaking as the action that works the miracle ties this story to the previous one regarding the Centurion and his sick servant.

The sequence of stories and teachings from Luke 3 through most of Luke 7 appears to be a single unit (bookends are John the Baptist) that explains the nature and mission of Jesus, but I don’t have the time to work through all that in a single sermon, so my focus will be on just this particular story.

Here is how I’ve organized the text to draw out what I think Luke is trying to tell me.